Oil Prices Are Tanking

Brent is off -2.40 per cent at $108, while WTI is down -2.05 per cent at $95.19 as DOE reported inventories had increased 2.7 million barrels compared with just 2 million, according to Stephen Schork.

That’s a big sell-off for one day.

But zooming out, it’s clear futures are now in their second-consecutive year of trending declines.

Here’s the chart for Brent. Going back to 2011, it’s off nearly -14 per cent.

And here’s the chart for crude/WTI, down nearly -20 per cent for the same period:

Investing.comThis chart explains what’s going on: over the same period, inventories have increased more than 11 per cent.

Econoday/CME
While part of this may have been due to the tepid economic recovery during this period, it’s mostly more evidence for Citi’s Seth Kleinman and Ed Morse that thanks to the rise of natural gas and higher fuel efficiency, “The End Is Nigh” for ever-rising oil demand, and thus prices too.